Flexible hide shafting



Jan. '3 1926.

H. A. COOK FLEXIBLE HIDE sun'rme Filed Nov. 8, 1 2

} IINVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 5, 1926.

HOWARD A.coox,.orsournrmm MAssAcHusn'r'rs.

rniixmrii HIDE, smm e.

h i n atioa flied Novemb r 8, 1924. SerialNo. 742 600. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD A. Cook, a citizen of the United States, and resident of "Southfield, county of "Berkshire, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flexible Hide Shaftings, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to flexible'shafting for transmitting rotary power through an angle, and more particularly toa flexible shafting made from animal hide',

' ,A'further object of theinventionis to provide a flexible 'shaf ting of the above nature which will be self-supporting, selflubricating, formsustaining and capable of extremely long wear.

. A'further object is to provide a flexible shafting which will not be likely to wear through the surrounding casing, and which maybe bent through relatively large, angles and consolidated.

out twisting. p t a 1 t i Fig. 16..is a s de view, with ms broken away, of' a portion offflexible shaftinga's it appearswhen connected with a' speedoinwithout cracking or splitting.

Aiurther object isttoprovide afflexible 'shattin'gof the above nature whichlwill be inexpensive to manufacture, practically ;un'-

breaka 'le, and 'very efficient andjdurable in use.. Withf these and other objects inview there have been illustrated'on the accompanying drawings several. forms in which the invention may. be conveniently "em"- bodied in practice.

F l'repres'ents a perspective view of "a 3 portion of the original strip of hideflasli't appears in the process of being twisted into cylindrical shape. i r ,Fig. 2.18 a perspective View of theisame after being twisted' 'and' consolidated.;jf t "Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofa modiffied form of flexible shafting having a central core ofsolid n etalwire around which a strip of hide has been'wra'pped andconsolidated. f

,Fig'. 4 is aperspective view of another modified form of flexiblefsha fting having. a central core or stranded metal, wire, around which a strip of hidehas' beenwrapped Fig 51's a perspective ie of a fle'xible cylindriealfshaftin'g. made from a iece of rawhide by drawing it througha dlewith- Fig.7 is a perspective view of a further modified form of flexible shafting con structed of a plurality of braided strands Fig. 8 is a perspective'view of a still fur ther modified form of the"invention"constructed of two narrow strips, of" hide twistedtogether and consolidated. r

Previous forms of flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power to speedometers, drills,w clippers, and the like, have been of three main types; first, shaftingmade from soft pliable material, such as rubber or cat-gut; second,"spiral wire coils; and third, metal link chains. The use'of'the first type of shafting vwas subject *to the disadvantage that it had to beinclosed in a tightly fitting supporting wrapper of tape, or the 1ike,in order to 'give'i-it sufficient strength to permit it to rotate through'a n angle without collapsing or buckling. It

was found, however, in the use of such shafting that the wrapper would quickly wear off wherever the shafting was bent, due .to its rubbing contact with the'sur- "rounding" casing, making frequent'renewals v necessary. Consequently, this first typeot' L lash," and also because the'links werefliable to shear off and tear upthe'surroun'ding casing whenever the direction of rotation was reversed. Consequently, this type of flexibleshaftingis also being rapidly discarded.

'By means of the present invention'the above and other disadvantages have been entirely avoidedj This has been acco plished by'formin'g the shafting from animal hi'des producing 'a' shaftingwhichis self-supporting and form-sustaining, and which will be practically unbreakableunder the repeated bending strains'which it 'receives when in use. Moreover,the flexible shafting formed in accordancewith thepre'sent invention does not require any supporting wrapper to hold it in shape, and consequently, may be directly enclosed in the surrounding casing. 1

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 (Fig. 1) indicates a narrow fiat strip of rawhide in its original soft wet condition. I By, suitable'machinery, not shown, the strip 10 is twisted before being dried into the forinof a cylindrical rod 11 with the line of its abutting edges forming a right-hand helix. After ,the twisted rawhide rod '11 has dried and thereby consolidated and hardened, the surface of the rod is preferably smoothed by grinding in any suitable manner to make the shafting more uniform and to improve its appearance. The flexible rawhide shafting may then be coated, if desired, with any suitable waterproof, lubricating, wear-resisting 7 material, suc hjas gr apl iite, or may be treated witha suitable'tanning solution to produce a coating. of still greaterfiexibility.

When it is desired to use the flexible "shafting, the end of the shafting at the rightof .Fig. 6, not shown, is conneotd in any suitablemanner to the driving mechanism of an automobileorother source of power. The left-handfend 12 of the flexible shafting may be 'conneoted to a'speedor'neter 13 orother instrument by means of a socket 14, into which the endof the shafting is litted. The'flexible shafting may be held in the socket in any suitable manner, as by means of a pin 15 passing through said socket llfand saidshaft 112. v o p In operation, when theshafting is to be used for transmitting heavy loads, the direction of rotation of the driving mechanism will preferablyfbe such as to normally tend tot wist theshafting in the same direction as it wasoriginally twisted during the process of 'its manufacture. In this manner there will be no danger or possibility for the helieal joints of the. rawhide rod to spread open, It will be understood, however, that the flexible shafting will operate quite 'eflicie ntly under ordinary loads even though the driving shaft is rotating in the reverse direction from that just mentioned.

While it is preferred to construct the flexible shafting out of untanned raw animal hides, it is to be understood that it is within the spirit of theinventionto employ partly tanned hides or: leather for this purpose, or if"desired, the interior of the shafting may beraw ju'ntanned hide, while the outer surfaee maybe tanned orotherwise treated; to render the 'shafting moisture-proof and more flexible. I V so I "e cases, where extremely large tor- 'sionalstresses are to betransmitted, it may beadvisable to strengthen the flex'ibleshaft,

as byfthe means shown in Figs. In Fig. 3, the flexible shaft 17 -isstrengthened by an interior solid rod 16, the hide in this instance being wound with a left-hand helix. Another form of strengthening rod 18 is disclosed in Fig. 1, said rod 18 being formed from a plurality of strands of flexible metal wire. The 'str'anded rod in Fig. 4 is encased within a rawhide core 19, which also has a left-hand twist.

Inother cases, where the torsional stresses to be transmitted are of relatively sn'i'all magnitude, the form of flexible shaftin'g shown in Fig. 5 may be employed. In'th'is form,the shafting 20 is formed by forcing a piece of rawhide while in a soft wetfcondition longitudinally through 'a die without twisting. V

In still other cases, where the combination of extreme strength and extreme flexibility is desired, as when thesh'afting is required topass around one or more sharp corners, the modified form shown in Fig. 7 may be employed. In this form, the sh'afting 21 is made up of a plurality of'strands (fourin this instance 22, 23, 24:, and 25) of hide, raw or tanned, braided or otherwise fiexibly woven together in close relationship.

In other cases, where the highest degree of flexibility is desired, and where the maximum strength is not necessary, the modified type of'shafting shown in Fig. S'm ay be employed. This form of shafting is similar to the formshown in Fig. '2, but insteadof being constructed by twisting'a single strip of hide, it. is made by winding together a plurality of strips (two in this instance, as indicated'by the numerals 2 6 and 27). v As will be noted, in the cross section "of the shaftingshown in Fig. 8, the line of clearage between the two twisted strips is curved, which fact causes the strips to be more sec'urely locked together. H

While there have been disclosed in this specification several forms in which the invention may be embodied, it will be understood thatthe'se forms are shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that "the invention is not to be limitedto the specific disclosures but may be mo'difiedfand embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications "and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims. p l

Having thus fully described the iiiven tion, what is claimed as new, for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent,"i s:

1. V In a flex'ible shafting for transmitting rotary power, a casing, and a co e within sa d casing, sa d core. compr singia foi'msustaining rod formed from a pair, of strips of hide twisted"'helically into cylindrical shape with their edges inabutment.

2.' In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, a casin and a core within said casing, said core be'ng formed from a plurality of strips of originally flat hide twisted into cylindrical shape and consolidated with vtheir sides in abutment.

3. In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power,ia casing, and a core within said casing, said core consisting of rawhide.

4. In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, "a casing, and a core within said casing, said core consisting of a plurality of strips of animal hide bent while still soft until their side edges are in abutment, and whenhardened, forming a consolidated cylindrical rod adapted to rotate inside of said casing.

5. In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, "a casing, and a core within said cas1ng,sa1d core consisting of a consohdated rod of animal hide coated with graphite, said core being adapted to rotate loosely within said casing.

6. In a flexible shafting for transmitting vrotary power, a casing, and a core within said casing, said core consisting of a con- 8. In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, a casing, and a core within said casing, said core consisting of a con- 1 solidated rod of animal'hide, said rod-being self-supporting.

9. Ina flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, a plurality of strips of animal hide twisted together into solidified selfsustaining form.

10. In a flexible shafting for transmitting rotary power, a consolidated rod of animal hide, having'its interior composed of rela- HOWARD A. COOK.

tively raw hide, and having its exterior 

